WrestlingINC.com: So when you say you weren't ready then, you say more you mentally weren't ready as opposed to in the ring?

Masters: My wrestling wasn't 100% ready either, but then again, a lot of guys they bring up aren't ready. There are a ton of guys up there right now who aren't ready. It's like different nowadays... everything is so rushed. You don't have the time, to like back when you could have a guy like Shawn Michaels rise from a tag title contender to a world champion. There's not a lot of patience for that anymore and we are losing a lot of guys with equity. It's just a weird place to be for the business.

WrestlingINC.com: Especially for a lot of the guys with really impressive physiques, it seems like they get brought up way too quickly and then are demoted down because they aren't ready, then they get moved to Superstars and it's hard to work back up the ranks.

Masters: I was having the best matches of my career over the last year, granted they were all on Superstars. It takes time to really learn this business. This is going way back, but obviously we were talking about back in the day when they had the territories that really helped guys get ready. For me, I started in WWE, I started on the main stage. Now I am ten years in, not from WWE debut, but from my starting of training. It takes time to get the business and it's kind of disheartening, but I started at 21 - not necessarily ready in ring wise, not ready maturity wise, not ready in a lot of different aspects - and now you fast forward, I'm 29 now. I was 28 and having the best matches of my career and was healthy I didn't have any distractions. No girlfriend, no wife... basically married to WWE, which is kind of what you needed to be to be successful with that company. I mean that's the disheartening part.

Now I feel like I am in the peak of my career, but now I'm not with them and that's fine, I'll do my own thing and I am actually enjoying it. Same thing like last time when I was released, some of the most fun I have had has been on the independent wrestling scene. It has its upsides.

WrestlingINC.com: Back to your first WWE run, how did the "Masterpiece" nickname come about?

Masters: It was like a process, I got out there and my real name is Chris Mordesky, obviously. One one day I came in and Dr. Tom Prichard told me I am no longer Chris Mordesky, I am Chris Masters, and I didn't question it. And then I remember one day I was sitting around with Mickie James, Matt Morgan... maybe a couple of others, we were just sitting around hanging out and I don't even know how we led into it, but Matt Morgan came up with "Masterpiece." So Matt Morgan, and I always give him credit for it even though he says I don't, Matt Morgan came up with the "Masterpiece" and it just clicked because I was already getting the perception of being a body guy. So we brought it to Jim Cornette the next day and he was all over it right away, pumping me as the "Masterpiece" Chris Masters. Eventually when I got called up, the Masterlock was the next addition to the whole thing so it all kind of tied together. That's kind of how it happened for me.

WrestlingINC.com: And when you first… as far as the whole gimmick… a lot of people thought it was based on the whole Lex Luger "Narcissist" character, but then I was also heard you were told to pattern Paul Orndorff more.